While The Denver Auto Show isn’t a major player in Auto show circuit, it is the biggest in Colorado putting it on on the calendar for most local car nuts. Most of the time manufacturers do not unveil new products that haven’t been to any other show, but there was still plenty there that I hadn’t mentioned before.
Over the past few years, Buick has been trying to get rid of it’s “grandpa car” image. To do this Buick has turned to GM’s European Opel/Vauxhall division to bring them over to the US with Buick badges. Buick started with the Regal sport sedan, then the Encore crossover and now theres the Cascada. The Cascada is a four-seat, soft-top, Convertible that is designed to compete with the VW Eos,which is being killed off in America at the end of the year.
The Cascada is based on the Opel Cascada which is a convertible version of their Astra Hatchback. It has a 1.6 liter turbo four cylinder with 200 horsepower paired to a six-speed automatic transmission.
The Cascada goes on sale next spring with pricing still to be announced
Chevy brought a few interesting items to this year’s show starting with the all new Malibu. The Malibu is Chevy’s midsize sedan but has always been considered the back of the pack when it comes to everything that matters to a Sedan. It wasn’t the most efficient, the best to drive, roomiest, or the most stylish. Chevy wants to change that with this new Malibu.
Powering the new Malibu there is either a 1.5 liter turbo four cylinder, a 2 liter turbo, and a 1.8 liter hybrid with an estimated 45 miles per gallon.
The Malibu barrows it’s new styling, inside and out, from it’s bigger Impala brother. There is also a technology designed for parents to monitor their teen drivers habits
Chevy Also Brought Their New Volt electric car.
Along With new Styling The Volt gets a longer Electric Range of 50 miles and a bigger, more powerful 1.5 liter Gasoline Generator. Combined They Give The Volt More Thrust And Better range
Joining These two Is The New Colorado Diesel. It has a 2.8 liter Duramax turbo diesel With 181 hp and 369 ft.lbs. of torque
All three go on Sale later this Year with pricing yet to be announced for each.
Ford welcomed show visitors with a Mustang GT350 which is mechanically Identical to The GT350R we saw in Detroit, just with a few more luxuries like air conditioning.
For also brought their revised Explorer large crossover. For 2016 Ford Ditched The 2 liter Ecoboost in Favor of a 2.3 liter turbo four ecoboost and will offer it with All-wheel drive unlike the 2 liter. The two, both naturally aspirated and twin Turbo, V6 options remain unchanged.
Also new is a top of the line Platinum model with special wheels, quilted leather seats and a twin turbo V6 as well as a few other niceties.
The Explorer goes on sale in the summer with the Mustang following in The fall.
Nissan two new cars to this years show and each are worth a look.
The new Maxima you might recognize From Nissans Superbowl commercial. It borrows styling and powertrain from The Murano crossover. It is a 3.5 liter V6 Paired to a CVT transmission going to Front-wheel drive.
More interestingly though, Nissan Brought their new Titan XD truck.
The Titan XD is Designed as a heavy duty Titan but Not as heavy duty as something a Ford Super Duty. Think of it as a ⅝ ton truck, between The ½ ton F-150’s and Ram 1500’s and The ¾ ton Ford F-250 and Ram 2500.
Powering The XD is a 5 liter Cumins Turbo V8 diesel with 310 horspower and north 500 ft.lbs. of torque. There will be a Gas Engine but details a scarce on it. There will also soon be a new normal Titan but we have very few details on that as well.
The Maxima Goes on sale in The summer for around $32,000. The Titan come to market in The fall and pricing is yet to be announced.
Jaguar Land Rover have been on a roll lately with cars like The F-Type and now Land Rover is going To Enter The Super SUV segment With The New Range Rover Sport SVR.
The Sport SVR is the fastest most powerful Range Rover ever. It has The same 5 liter supercharged V8 From The Jaguar F-type with 550 hp going Through an eight-speed auto to an All-wheel drive system. It will do 0-60 in 4.5 sec and go on to a top speed of 162 mph. This doesn’t make it the fast or most powerful in The Super SUV segment but is certainly the most interesting since it is new to the class.
The SVR Also Gets Unique Styling inside and out With New Bumpers, Quad exhaust and sport seats.
The Range Rover SVR goes on sale in the fall for about $110,000 and goes against Porsche Cayenne Turbo, BMW X5 M, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and Mercedes GLE 63 AMG.
Finally Ram Brought Their New 1500 Rebel.
Let’s get one thing off the table, Ram has clearly said The this is not a Ford Raptor Fighter, It is more of a option all off road Package Like Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
The Rebel Package includes 4 corner air suspension, off road wheels and tires, and unique styling inside and out.
The Ram Rebel Goes on sale in The next couple months
This Show Completes the 2014-15 show circuit. If You want a refresher of new cars coming out see our other Auto Show coverages over the past year. The circuit arts up again in September at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany.
